I come to this forum with a hoopla of mixed emotions - HOPE, relief, excitement, confusion.....nothing new to most of you, I'm sure I've tried sooooooo many other conventional and "natural" remedies with no avail - I am hoping with all my being that this is my last stop. So - I apoligize for the obvious/repetitive questions and I very, veeeeeeery much appreciate all your responses....here we go....

I am a 30 yr Asian female O type - who's main issue is constipation & bloating - I feel as tho this is the source problem for my acne, fatigue, lack of concentration/memory, apathy (sometimes) and of course "food coma". I've had GI issues for most of my life but the past year has been ridiculous - ex: a couple of times in the beginning my husband thought I was pregnant b/c I was so extremely bloated I don't think I have diverticulosis but who knows....

I just got LR4T -am trying to get the Secretor test (I'm in NY) - and started the O diet today~!! Yay! Will also pick up ARA6 and ghee today.

* How am I supposed to take the ghee? With food? or no?

* I've stayed away from bananas - apparently it constipates some - being a RN I thought you were supposed to eat bananas when you had diarrhea due to electrolyte loss...any thoughts?

* why are there so many discrepancies b2n ER4T, LR4T, and the Food/Bev/Supp List? How does the catergory for a certain food change?

* Is there a way to see the most current up2 date list for a specific type beside looking up one food at a time on TypeBase4?

* Can an O drink a white wine/champagne that is made from red grapes?

* When I do decide to spurlge one day is there anything I can do before I intake carbs, dairy, or an Avoid?

It's so funny to hear so many O's were veg. or vegan - jus like me.....I will miss my bread and cheese and wine....oh well - you eat to live, not live to eat, right? =D

Hello there. I'll see if I can come up with a few answers for you. Eat Right For your type is the oldest book. New research refined the lists in LRFYT including breaking it down into secretor and nonsecretor lists. Because there is continous research going on the newest values can be checked at typebase(see the icon at the top of the page). About ghee most people take it with food unless they have a leaky gut. BTW you can make your own ghee cheaper, just put a pound of unsalted butter in a casserole dish, bake at 350F for one hour and filter through a paper coffee filter. Unfortunately according to typebase you can't have white wine only red. Banannas are listed as beneficial for O's. Never heard that they constipate. When tempted to splurge eat protein especially wild salmon. Don't forget to exercise. Finally the bloating should go down when corn and wheat are cut out.

There are no printable lists on-line in TypeBase4 because of copyright rules etc. I've made my own lists by typing the lists from LR4YT and cross checking the values with TypeBase4. It's of course time consuming, but actually a great exercise because you get to remember the food-values much better when you have worked through the lists a few times while typing and cross checking..

Nameless, Hi and welcome! You're in the right place here; very supportive folks on here...without them, where would I be....

Just want to tell you and all other NY'ers, I have found a way to get the secretor test kit shipped to me, and got instructions on how to return it.....no need to ship to an address outside of NY...I am exhausted now...but within the next 24 hours I will post the phone no. to call to order your kit.

This product is not tool to utilize to eat avoid foods, but it can assist with some of the lectin damage. The therapetic dosage is two capsules after a meal. One can safeguard themselves by taking two capsules prior to eating an avoid meal, as well.

You won't really miss your bread and cheese once you get used to the new lifestyle, and that will take a few months, really, all of it label-reading and head buzzing with new foods to choose from. We don't beat ourselves up much for cheating, our bodies do it for us! After a while, you learn how much cheating you can get away with and how much you can't. Some avoids will turn out to hit you hard , others may not bother you noticeably (tho they're usually causing some mischief inside) You end up tailoring the diet to suit your health issues and personal tastes

OSuzannaA Before Picture , In the Process of Becoming an After Picture FOOD for THOUGHT, Super Beneficial 4 All Blood Types!

Welcome Namelessfemm!Did you say details?I know that just beginining this path to selecting and eating more of the better things is daunting. I was nearly fifty before I really started to concentrate on things strongly suggested. I know doing so has helped me immensly. If you read avidly, all the books will provide you with great insights even though there are accumulated discrepancies. The premium in this parodox for me is that it has evolved so much since the first book and while some might quibble with the notion that it wasn't ready for prime time or something like that in the face of all the improved refinements it is really outstanding in my opinion that nothing was ever written in stone, just eloquent suggestions that granted flexible routes to better living. Here's an Idea for the "typebase research" Look up all the things you like to eat and and generally have eaten all your life. Try to register these in your mind as they now are presented to "suit you" Say Goodbye to all the avoids until you really feel better. You probably won't even feel like going back but if you do your body will help you listen better this time! I think that much is important. Don't worry as much about neutrals but don't load up on them either. Get a firm hold of the beneficial tigers and don't let go. The ride will get better and better if you do. Some people have mentioned cleanout troubles and that might happen to you some too but it should pass soon. This is a great forum. The support here is unparalleled in my experience. A truly bright spot in cyberspace. I am so greatfull that there is such a "place" to refer to. The typebase is a kind of self testing facility. You will know you're getting further along when you seem to remember "other bloodtype" avoids and beneficials and can say with confidence to friends and aquaintances little tidbits they should get to be aware of that might help them. It becomes a passion at least it has been that way for me. I still mention after two years eating this way, plenty of details to folks because it seems to me to tie into so much of what make sense to me these days about all of us. Here's a major detail for you: In one of the books the role of suitable foods and the long term functioning of the kidneys was revealed to me. That really crystalized my focus on why in a big way. It goes beyond day to day "reactions" It really makes me wonder at the resiliancy of the body in spite of poor nutrition too. A life lived so far with a slowly clogging kidney for no other reason than eating way too much of the wrong foods. Birth 100% death 30% And all the so called problems besetting the life form along the way. These organs really need to work at 100% (sure you get two to start with if you are lucky) We can really help ourselves if we think and learn to respect this particular hidden rarely mentioned dynamic in diet.iemnli

love or perish, sing or croak,recycle or regret, write or read, think or thwim.

just eloquent suggestions that granted flexible routes to better living......This is a great forum. The support here is unparalleled in my experience. A truly bright spot in cyberspace. I am so greatfull that there is such a "place" to refer to. iemnli

I come to this forum with a hoopla of mixed emotions - HOPE, relief, excitement, confusion.....nothing new to most of you, I'm sure I've tried sooooooo many other conventional and "natural" remedies with no avail - I am hoping with all my being that this is my last stop.

Sweetie, this is your last stop. Because you have come "home" to your native diet, the diet you were born to thrive on. As a fellow previous trier of other diets, all of which just rendered me fat, craving and tired, I can tell you honestly and confidently that this one is very different. I've been on the thaaang since 1997, so I know whereof I speak. Other diets are, as Dr. D. terms it, "reductionist" in nature. That is to say, they take a one-size-fits-all approach. But this diet is in a league of its own. It takes a nutrigenomic approach, i.e., it is customized to provide your body with foods that harmonize ideally with your own hardwiring. These foods will minimize your innate weaknesses and maximize your innate strengths. Result: balance. More precious than gold, that.

If I'm gushing, it is because the thrill of this here diet never gets old. The novelty never wears off.

Quoted from namelessfemm

I am a 30 yr Asian female O type - who's main issue is constipation & bloating - I feel as tho this is the source problem for my acne, fatigue, lack of concentration/memory, apathy (sometimes) and of course "food coma".

Again, you are in the right place. The BTD will normalize your digestion. btw, in the book you have, LR4YT, there is a major typo regarding the suggested fruit and veg portions for all types. The recommended portion amounts should read per DAY, not per WEEK, so feel free to have more fruits and veg than that typo would suggest. Very important for your healthy digestion.

Quoted from namelessfemm

* How am I supposed to take the ghee? With food? or no?

Ghee is clarified butter, and you can use it just as you would butter. It makes an excellent cooking fat for stir-fries, or you can drizzle it onto a nice piece of fish, or onto compliant toast or a sweet potato--again, wherever you would use butter or oil.

Quoted from namelessfemm

I've stayed away from bananas - apparently it constipates some - being a RN I thought you were supposed to eat bananas when you had diarrhea due to electrolyte loss...any thoughts?

Well, if you are sure they constipate you, then continue to avoid them, but they are beneficial for us O's so if, once you establish your "baseline" on the BTD, you try introducing bananas back into your diet again and you find they agree with you, go for them! What do I mean by "baseline"? Well, many of us find to our surprise when we get into a groove on the BTD, that we feel much better than ever before in our lives. We didn't even KNOW that was how you could feel! I never even realized, for example, that wheat caused me all the trouble it did, until I eliminated it from my diet. Now if I eat it, BOY do I realize what I used to feel like all the time--wild, wild stuff. The flip side of that is, some people find that foods they thought gave them trouble really weren't the culprit afterall. Maybe bananas will be like that for you. Maybe once you are feeling better on the BTD, you will find that bananas are no prob. If, however, you find you want to continue avoiding bananas, don't worry about the electrolyte thing if you have diarrhea (which you won't anymore at that point, due to being on the BTD, but anyhoo...). You can get electrolytes from other foods, no problema.

Quoted Text

why are there so many discrepancies b2n ER4T, LR4T, and the Food/Bev/Supp List? How does the catergory for a certain food change?

Well, there really aren't that many changes between the books. This diet is evolving and also getting refined based on the science itself evolving. For example, between the first book, ER4YT and the second one, LR4YT, there were changes due to the refinements for non-secretors. But not that many foods changed for secretors. One I can think of that did makes my point about our evolving knowledge: sunflower seeds. Tragically, though these were neutral in ER4YT for O's, now they are avoids. Why? Because through further, more refined testing, Dr. D. discovered that there is a lectin in sunflower seeds that doesn't agree with O's. Dang it! I am still demanding a recount on that one, but to no avail. But you get my point, as our knowledge expands and is refined, some foods do change status...but not too many. On the plus side for moi, avocados--an avoid in ER4YT--shot all the way up to beneficial once the non-secretor refinements came into play: wu HUUUUUU!

Quoted Text

Is there a way to see the most current up2 date list for a specific type beside looking up one food at a time on TypeBase4?

Typebase is the most up-to-date source for food ratings on the BTD.

Quoted Text

Can an O drink a white wine/champagne that is made from red grapes?

Wow, great question! I don't know the answer (lol), but it is a great question! In general, if the specific ingredient(s) in a given item is/are beneficial and/or neutral, you should be in the clear to go for it.

Quoted Text

When I do decide to spurlge one day is there anything I can do before I intake carbs, dairy, or an Avoid?

YES, as far as wheat lectin is concerned. Order yourself some "Deflect" from the NAP section of this site.* It binds to the wheat lectin and carries most of it harmlessly out of your body. Far as other avoids, eat 'em at your own risk, sadly. And I hasten to add, that definitely goes for wheat, too, even with the Deflect. Deflect is more like an emergency "morning after" (or right before!) pill. It will mitigate the damage, but the ideal is definitely to avoid wheat at all costs. Wheat is THE biggie for us O's, avoid-wise.

Quoted Text

It's so funny to hear so many O's were veg. or vegan - jus like me.....I will miss my bread and cheese and wine....oh well - you eat to live, not live to eat, right? =D

Giiiiirl, after ump-de-ump years on this diet, I just have one, life-changing kernal to impart to you: Sami's millet and flax bread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (http://www.samisbakery.com/pd_specs2.asp?p_id=13). After all this time on the BTD, I only discovered this bread this year. Oh, the humanity.

Again, a warm WELCOME!

* Deflect is the ideal form of glucosamine for this. However, in a pinch, you can take regular glucosamine sulfate, it will help, too.

"If you are on one of Dr. D's diets and it isn't joyful, you aren't doing it right."- me -

Nameless....and other NY'ers.....ask Norwalk for special instructions on shipping back the test....I was told to NOT write my NY address as the 'return address', rather put NOrth American Pharmacal, 213 Danbury Road; Wilton, CT 06897, or any other non-NY address. (NOrth American Pharmacal is the one who referred me to Norwalk Natural Foods) My test arrived today....yippee hurray.....

P.S. Nameless, I forgot to say, re missing cheese: If you are a secretor (and about 85% of the population is, so here's hopin'...), you may have goat cheese. Until recently, when my local HFS expanded (can I get an "Amen!"?), they only had one variety of goat cheese, which was a heavenly, semi-soft, herbed goat cheese, similar in taste and texture to Boursin, if you have ever had that. But there are as many varieties of goat cheese as there are of cow's cheese. Whole Foods--and since you are in NYC, you are near several, you lucky pup, you!!!--has at least seven varieties of goat cheese.

About missing favorite avoids: one of the many FAB things about the BTD is, you will learn that for just about everything you feel right now that you are going to dearly miss and/or that you feel you can't live without, there is not only an alternative on the BTD, but usually it is way BETTER than the original item!!! So hang in there, post here often with any questions that arise, and enjoy the beautiful and amazing ride.

"If you are on one of Dr. D's diets and it isn't joyful, you aren't doing it right."- me -